Nothing Tylenol Won't Fix
by Veldeia
Summary: The battle against Stane is over, and Iron Man won. It wasn't easy, though. With one arc reactor failing and the other damaged, Tony races against time to save himself. Movie missing scenes, hurt/comfort, with a tinge of TS/PP.
1. Waking up

Author's Note: I haven't written any fanfiction in quite a while, and wasn't planning to, but then I saw Iron Man and there was this idea and it just wouldn't go away. The idea was that there was a huge missed opportunity for lots and lots of hurt/comfort between the end of the big final fight and the press conference where Tony reveals his identity as Iron Man. So, here I am, filling in the gap. Missing scenes for the movie. Sort-of AU, of course, since I don't know what really happened.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Mr. Stark? Tony? Tony!"

Pepper stopped shouting and looked around. There were small electrical fires blazing here and there, smoke rising from the ground. The explosion had left her ears ringing so loud that she couldn't hear her own voice, even though she was shouting at the top of it.

She'd just managed to get out before the reactor had gone boom. That had probably been the world record of sprinting in high heels. And now, she was going to break it.

There was an emergency stairway leading to the roof. That was where she'd last seen Tony. He had told her to punch it even though it'd been obvious that he was too close to the overloading reactor, way too near to avoid the blast. But she'd punched it, because his desperate tone had made it clear enough that there was no other way.

He might be dying, he might be dead already... No, he wouldn't be.

"Tony? Tony!"

She knew he wouldn't hear her shouting if she couldn't even hear it herself. If he was okay – and of course he was, he had to be – his ears would be buzzing even worse than hers. And even if he'd answer, most likely she wouldn't be able to hear it.

Shouting his name again nevertheless, she ran up the stairway, her heels hardly touching the steps. Miraculously, she managed not to trip.

The first thing she saw on the roof was Obadiah Stane, or what was left of him. Bits and pieces of melted and blackened armor, and charred flesh buried among it. If he was still alive, he was probably hoping he wasn't. She couldn't have cared less. She ran past him.

"Tony?"

There! She saw him. At the other end of the roof, a red and gold figure much smaller than Stane and his hulking armor, lying on the ground in an odd posture. She ran even faster, covering the last few feet in a leap that would've been impressive even without the skirt and the heels.

Compared to Stane, Tony looked okay, but that wasn't much of a comfort to her. Sure, he was still in one piece and not burned at all, but there was blood on his face, and there was no way she could tell what injuries he had inside the dented and battered armor... She couldn't even see if he was breathing. The arc reactor on his chest was still glowing, but she was sure the light looked fainter than usual. And he was so still.

She knelt next to him and held a shaky hand over his face – and could feel the air flowing against the back of her hand. Oh, thank God! He was breathing. He was alive. He was alive and he would be all right.

She felt so relieved that she had to sit down for a while. As she did so, it came to her how very, very worried she had been of him. He was her boss, their relationship was strictly professional – but she had been every bit as worried as she would've been of a close relative, a very dear friend or...

Her cell phone cut her introspection short. It was Rhodes. He sounded just as worried as she felt.

"I'm fine, Tony's unconscious and I don't know how badly hurt he is, but he's alive," she assured him. "We need to get him to an ambulance... Oh!"

Tony had opened his eyes.

"Miss Potts. Didn't I make it clear enough last time? No ambulances."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tony Stark felt the force of the explosion tossing him across the air, his un-armored head hitting the ground painfully, and then, of course, everything went dark.

The darkness was pleasant enough. He knew it was the easy part. It was the waking-up part that was always painful.

Except that this time, there might not be a waking-up part. He'd been running on reserve power already, the Mark I chestpiece failing under the huge energy drain of the battle. It would go, and so would his heart.

Maybe he was already dead. Maybe this was the afterlife. Pretty damn boring an afterlife, though. All the religious types had been telling him he'd end up in Hell for all the bad stuff he'd done... This couldn't possibly be it, where were the blazing fires and the devils with pitchforks?

He wasn't a religious person. Science was his one true religion, and he believed that death would be nothing more than the end. The end of his life. He didn't want it to end quite yet. No, now was definitely not a good time. He'd just began to understand what he should do with his life.

"Tony? Tony!"

All right, he was most definitely not in Hell, with Pepper Potts shouting his name like that. Maybe the other place... But then again, there weren't any angels about either.

Pepper. One more reason why he definitely did not want this to be the end. He wanted to stay around to apologize for the mess he'd gotten her into, and to actually get her that martini with extra olives in it.

He didn't want it to end. Not yet. He wouldn't give up this easily.

"Tony?"

And maybe it wouldn't end. He wasn't supposed to be alive. The chestpiece couldn't possibly be working anymore. Nevertheless, he was starting to feel the the dozens of bruises he'd gotten during the fight.

Yeah, it was the waking-up part that was painful.

Pepper was speaking. "...he's alive. We need to get him to an ambulance..."

He was alive. He opened his eyes, to see her worried face hovering right above him.

"Oh!" she breathed, her eyes wide with surprise.

He couldn't stand seeing her so worried. Besides, all in all, he wasn't that badly hurt. He'd hit his head pretty hard, possibly a concussion, there was a pain in his side telling that if he hadn't broken a rib or two, at least they were spectacularly bruised... But considering he'd thought he'd be dead for sure, that was mighty fine. So, he took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice casual.

"Miss Potts. Didn't I make it clear enough last time? No ambulances."

"But Mr. Stark, you..."

"All I have is a few cuts, bumps and a badly bruised ego. Nothing Tylenol won't fix."

She was probably right, he probably could use some medical attention, but it really didn't matter. His primary concern was the arc reactor in his chest, and no first aid team in the world would be able to fix that. He didn't know how it was still holding, but he was definitely living on borrowed time. He'd have to figure out something and fast.


	2. Arc reactors

His headache was quickly growing worse, his ears buzzing so loud he had trouble hearing Pepper's words. She managed to sound both anxious and sarcastic at the same time. "All right then, if you're not really hurt, you'll have no trouble getting up and walking downstairs?"

He lifted his hand to brush some stray hairs out of his eye. Or it might've been blood. Or both. He had trouble thinking straight, and he really, really needed to think. He ignored her question.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Shush, I'm thinking."

He was still wearing most of the suit. Moving around in it would take energy, which he couldn't afford to use. He was convinced the Mark I arc reactor could decide to stop working any minute now. He'd need to check it to see how damaged it was and whether it'd be possible to fix it – but he wouldn't be able to do that without taking it out, which would be lethal, too. If he only had a spare one...

"Pepper, what happened to Stane?"

"What?"

"Stane? Anything left of his armor?"

"I... I have no idea. Why?"

"I need the chestpiece."

He saw her eyes widen some more and her gaze settle on his current one. Sure enough, with a sense of drama as great as its owners', it flickered. Once, twice – but then settled again to a faint glow. He shivered. Borrowed time.

"I'll go get it," she said, and ran away, her heels clicking sharply.

He propped his hands against the ground and pushed himself to a seated position. The world reeled for a moment, and a number of new cuts and bruises reminded him of their existence, but he ignored them. He'd need to get out of the suit. Walking in the suit would take energy, and he'd be too heavy for anyone to lift while wearing it. He fumbled with the locking mechanism on his right foot, his fingers slipping uselessly. This wasn't going to work, he needed tools. If only he had made the damn thing a bit easier to take off. He'd have to work on that when designing the next version.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Oh my, oh my, oh my... She had pretty much ignored Stane earlier, and she didn't want to look at him more closely now, but she didn't have much choice. She didn't know exactly how deep in trouble Tony was, but she wasn't going to waste time and wait and see.

The mess that was Stane's armor wasn't exactly easy to figure out. Was that an arm? No, a leg... That had to be a rocket launcher or some such... That... Eww, looked like skin... Hopefully it wasn't... Don't think about it... This was way, way more disgusting than helping Tony switch his old arc reactor to the new one.

Stane's face was hardly recognizable, and she quickly turned her gaze lower. If his face was still connected to the rest of his body – and she couldn't bear to think it wasn't – it shouldn't be far below it. Don't look at the face, just look at the armor, the metallic torso, and in the middle of it... She found the chestpiece. The glass, or the whatever-very-tough-transparent-material that had covered it was cracked, and came off easily.

The armor was warm, almost too hot to touch, but she managed to maneuver the arc reactor out of it... Oh no! It wasn't glowing. No, no... That left him with two damaged ones and not a single one that was working properly.

She turned away from the body, holding the broken piece of technology in front of her face, staring at it, desperately hoping for it to magically start working again.

She was about to sprint back to Tony when she heard the noise of someone climbing the stairs. She turned to face them. A group of men in suits, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. She'd almost forgotten they were here, too.

"Miss Potts? What's the situation?" Agent Coulson asked.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "Stane is..." she gestured towards him, unwilling to look at him again. "And Mr. Stark is alive, but he's..." she glanced at the broken chestpiece she was holding. "He's injured, but we're working on it."

"We'll see to Mr. Stane. Help is already on the way, we'll get them to a hospital in no time."

Pepper nodded, though she knew Tony would adamantly refuse such help. Not waiting any further, she headed back to him. He had sat up and was trying to get out of his armor, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. He opened his mouth, probably going for some witty remark on the situation, but before he could say anything, she handed him the second broken arc reactor.

He took it, closed his mouth and frowned at it. "I need to get to my shop. Fast."

As if on cue, the sound of a quickly approaching helicopter caught their attention. It landed right there on the roof, and a familiar uniformed figure stepped out, motioning for them to get closer. Jim Rhodes, flying to the rescue!

"You called for a cab?" he shouted above the noise.

"Rhodey, you're late! Missed all the action!" Tony shouted back, struggling to get to his feet. Pepper offered him her arm, but it was about as much help as a flower stalk for a walking stick. The armor was very heavy, and he didn't seem to be controlling it all that well. No wonder, with all the damage the suit had taken.

In a few seconds, Rhodey was by Tony's side too, helping as best he could. It felt to Pepper that it took ages to cover the short stretch of roof to the helicopter, but finally, they were there, and with one final heave, managed to get Tony on board.

He landed on the floor and stayed there, gasping and grimacing, one hand held protectively over his right side. "All right, driver, hit the pedal," he called out.

Rhodes closed the door behind them. "Where to, sir?"

"Home."

"Tony, seriously, you look like crap – we'd better just..."

"No, he's serious. Get us to his place, as fast as you can."

Her stern voice and grave expression must have convinced Rhodes, because he simply nodded and moved to the cockpit, muttering, "As you say, ma'am" as he went.

"Now, for some on-flight entertainment, Miss Potts: I really need to get out of this thing," Tony motioned at his suit.


	3. Deadline

It was difficult, very bad to her nails, somewhat embarrassing, and, she had to admit to herself, also quite hot.

Hot? Goodness, where did that come from? She shook her head and returned her attention to the armored shoulder she was working on.

There was so little space that her face almost touched the armor, and her knees rested against his thigh. He was drenched in sweat, the armor dented and cracked, there was blood on him... She must be out of her mind to think there was anything "hot" in working on getting him out of the suit. Then again, he was doing his best to keep her distracted.

"That's it, Pepper, yeah, just like that, a little more, come on... Yes!" he muttered, his lips so close to her ear that she could feel his breath.

He started prying the right sleeve off. "Okay, that leaves just the torso, the clips on the right side are just like the ones on the left."

"I'm already on it," she knelt lower, glad to get some distance between her ear and his mouth. The mechanism was tiny and tight enough that she couldn't imagine how he could ever have imagined that he could open it himself. Of course, he probably hadn't thought about it at all. He'd never been any good with the practical details. It was always all about the cool appearance and the fancy gadgets that you didn't even really need. Boys and their toys...

"That's it," she declared victoriously, and lifted the chest plate off him.

"Ouch," he grunted, his hand flying to his ribs.

"What's wrong with your side? Nothing broken, I hope, because if there is, then we're so going to go to the hospital anyway... Let me see," she'd already grabbed hold of his shoulder, not really thinking what she was doing.

"Ah-ah, don't touch," Tony pushed her away. "Nothing broken, I promise. I'm pretty sure."

She backed away quickly. Whew. There was something profoundly wrong about this scenario: she, Pepper Potts, trying to touch Tony Stark, and he pushing her away.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Having Pepper undress his armor was way more fun than having a bunch of no-good robots do it. It would've been even more fun in some other situation, but he tried to make the best of it as it was. He'd definitely want to do this again later. There would be a "later" when they could do it. There'd have to be.

He'd figured that getting the armor off would make him feel better, that getting the weight off his injuries would help some, but it hardly did. It just changed the way they felt, and he was stiff all over, his back and neck and joints aching like never before. Note to self, he needed better cushioning on the suit. This felt like he'd just aged several decades.

Tony grabbed the Mark II chestpiece from the floor. It was completely dead, but it didn't seem that badly damaged. Some components had fused, he'd be able to replace those and fix the thing, and it wouldn't even take all that long. The problem was, he had no idea how long he had. He was working on a deadline without knowing what it was.

"Brace yourselves, I'm taking her down," Rhodey announced.

Finally there, and not a minute too soon, Tony thought. He was still on the floor, not wearing a seat belt, but he didn't care, he was sure the landing would be as soft as ever. Rhodey knew his stuff.

Tony was up and about as soon as the chopper had touched down. Luckily, he had no injuries that'd limit his mobility. He left Rhodey to pick up the pieces of his armor and headed to his workshop, Pepper trotting anxiously in his wake.

He didn't stop once he'd reached the shop, but kept going, gathering the tools and spare parts he'd need, placing them on a table.

"Jarvis? Any educated guesses on how long I've got?"

"Sir, with the data I currently have, or the lack thereof, I could not say. Without you wearing the suit, I have no readings from the chestpiece, and as to the extent of your injuries, assessing them would require medical scanners which I also do not have."

"Yeah. I knew that. Never mind. Music, please."

He had the feeling that if he'd stop, he might actually start feeling as bad as he should've felt, so he didn't. Finally, he had everything he needed for mending the Mark II. It wouldn't be optimal, but it'd work. He'd build a new and improved one when he had more time.

He hadn't noticed Pepper leaving the room, so he was surprised when she re-entered it, silenced the music, walked to his side with determined steps and set a tray on the table. A cup of coffee, a glass of water and two Tylenol.

"It's the extra strength stuff," she told her.

He smirked at her. "Cool. Now I'm going to be more than fine."

"Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Stark?"

"I'd ask for a shot of brandy, but that'd probably... Miss Potts?"

The mildly amused look on her face had suddenly changed to utter horror. Why was she that upset? She pointed a shaky finger at him... Something was wrong, he could feel it now. He looked down.

The arc reactor had gone dead on him. Dead? Damn, he was so not going to die now. No way. He only needed a couple of hours more.

He struck it with his fist, nearly knocking the wind out of himself and sending a flare of pain lancing through his bruised ribs.

With a fizzle, the reactor started glowing again.

"Basic trick. Never fails," he told her, slightly out of breath, and put on his best reassuring smile – an extremely convincing and handsome one, and that was not bragging, it was a fact.

She didn't look very reassured, though, and he couldn't blame her. He was pretty damn scared too. So much for that deadline. He had already missed it.


	4. Not helpless

He downed the coffee and the drugs and started working. It wasn't exactly a difficult task, but it was delicate, his hands were shaking and his headache still getting worse. Hopefully the Tylenol would help some.

Pepper sat down on a stool next to him, staring at him intently. "Would you mind if I'd clean those cuts you've got on your head?"

"Yes, I would mind. No can do. It has to wait until later."

She sighed, but let him continue working. It was only some minutes later that she disturbed him again.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Is this important?" he asked irritably, though her troubled tone had already made it clear enough.

"I was just wondering... What if... If you'll fall unconscious, or something..."

"...if the arc reactor stops working and I go into cardiac arrest?"

"...is there anything I can do to help if that happens?"

He grimaced. "Nope, not really, there isn't. It's not like you can just plug it in to the nearest power source. Let's not think about that. It's not going to happen, all right, Pepper?"

She didn't answer, so he turned up the music again and went on working. She stayed there by his side, watching him like a hawk as he worked. Every now and then he'd glance at her, and she'd pretend she was checking out some schedules, or reading the several days old newspaper she'd found on the table, or staring at some random piece of technology lying on the floor. When he turned away again, he could see from the corner of his eye that she was just resting her chin on her fist and gazing at him.

Rhodey appeared, set Tony's suit of armor on the floor, exchanged a few words with Pepper that he pretty much ignored, said bye, and left the room again.

Half an hour, an hour, and he still wasn't anywhere near finished. He tried to keep his back turned to her so she would notice how the arc reactor in his chest had started flickering off and on again every now and then. No need to upset her, when there really wasn't anything she could do if he couldn't pull this off.

It'd been over a hour and a half when a sharp pain suddenly pierced his chest, so bad that it forced him on his knees, gasping and grasping at his shirt front. Pepper was there in an instant, with a hand rubbing his back and a deeply worried question of "Are you all right?"

He nodded. The pain was subsiding already. He concentrated on evening out his breathing. He had felt this sort of pain before, and it had nothing to do with bruised ribs. It was the shrapnel inching its way closer to his heart. The failing old arc reactor wasn't holding it properly any more. He was running out of time and fast, there was no denying it now.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Pepper was horrified.

Wasn't it enough that Tony had very nearly been killed by Stane and then risked his life again fighting the madman? That she had to watch as he was working away like crazy, driving himself way too hard for someone who was hurt and really should be resting – and that she might have to watch him die without being able to do anything to help... It was beyond unfair. It was horrible.

When he collapsed without warning, she was, for a few agonizing seconds, sure that this was it. She leaped to his side, tears already welling up in her eyes. Luckily, this one was a false alarm. Tony nodded that he was still all right – which sounded like a huge overstatement to her.

"What happened?"

"Unh... Nothing, really. I need to keep working," Tony didn't offer any explanations, but reached for the edge of the table to pull himself upright. She wanted to shout at him, to make him explain, to help her understand what was going on, but she knew how stubborn he was. If he didn't want to talk, then he wouldn't. She helped him back to his chair and backed away to her seat again. To her vigil. This felt way too much like a wake.

Pepper really didn't keep track of the time. Less than an hour since Rhodes had stopped by, since he had said he'd check on them again in an hour. He'd also said that he'd summon a medical team that'd be standing by in case something bad happened. Which was really good except for the fact that if something bad did happen, they'd be just as helpless as she was.

Something bad was bound to happen all too soon, she thought. Tony looked even worse now than before, hunched over the table as if his chest was still paining him, which it probably was. His hands were shaking, and he was obviously very tired. She could see the cuts on his head were still slowly oozing blood.

"Aah," he uttered, pulling her out of her gloomy observations. Not an "aah" with pain, but a content one. He got on his feet, leaning on the table for support. She could see that the arc reactor he had been working on was glowing brightly and soothingly now – but the one on his chest was completely dark.

He was swaying, his knees giving out under him. Again, she ran to his side, but this time, she wasn't a lot of help. This was the real thing. He'd gone completely limp, and she wasn't able to keep him from crashing heavily to the floor.

Oh God, this was really it, wasn't it?

She reached for his neck, searching for a pulse. She couldn't feel a thing, but her hands were trembling so badly that she'd probably have missed it even if there was one.

This was it. He was dying, and there wasn't anything she could...

Except, she was being stupid. She was panicking, she was not thinking. She shouldn't be panicking when his life depended on her. Of course there was something she could do. He'd obviously finished his work, he'd fixed the second arc reactor, and all she needed to do was to make the switch. She knew how to do that, she'd done it before.

This was all assuming that his "Aah" really had meant that he'd finished working... But the reactor was glowing, it had to be all done and okay! She grabbed it from the table and knelt by his side.

One thing was for sure: if she was going to save him, she'd need to work fast. Twist the old chestpiece counter-clockwise, pull it out. Check. Pull out the wire and the magnet, ignoring the goo and the smell, done. Take the new one, attach wires to the base-plate and put the device in to the socket, twist it, and there. All set. That wasn't so hard.

She backed away a little, still on her knees. Had she done it right? And what was supposed to happen now? The fixed arc reactor was glowing reassuringly on his chest, but he was still out cold. Had his heart stopped? Would switching the chestpieces have restarted it?

Not knowing what else to do, useless panic threatening to overcome her again, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Tony? Tony! Tony?!"

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, he gasped loudly and opened his eyes. "See... said... was gonna be... fine. Thanks... Pepper."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Author's Note: The End, for now – I'd really like to continue this, but I'm going out of town and away from my computer for a week, so won't be able to write anything for a while. We'll see if the inspiration's still there when I return. Thanks for the reviews and please write more, they just might convince me to keep writing!

Oh, and I put a tiny little nod towards the good old comics in this chapter, so let's see if anyone catches it...


	5. Impossible

Author's Note: I had some trouble deciding what to do with this story, since it was sort-of completed already, all the really dramatic bits written and the big plot points resolved. So, I started working on a new story (Iron & Irony), but I still felt this story needed real closure, so I wrote this. The final chapter. I've never ever really written anything even remotely romantic, so I hope my slight attempts at such stuff here aren't completely stupid...

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The tools and parts on the table were a blur, his head was swimming, his chest aching, he couldn't concentrate but he had no choice, he was almost there... There were still a few connections to make... The arc reactor in his chest finally gave in completely, but he didn't. He still kept working, forcing his shaky hands to move, squinting to keep his vision clear enough that he could see what he was doing... And finally, there, all done. The Mark II arc reactor was all set and functioning again.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to stay conscious much longer, and he sure wasn't going to be able to remove the old chestpiece and set up the new one. He stood up and turned to face Pepper. As the world tilted around him and his vision faded to black once again, she was the last thing he saw, and he felt safe.

He knew he'd make it. He trusted Pepper with his life. She'd know what to do.

And she did.

For the second time during this crazy night, he woke up to the sweet sound of Pepper shouting his name. He gazed up at her, her eyes red-rimmed, her hair askew, and he smiled at her.

"See? I said I was gonna be fine. Thanks, Pepper," he told her, or rather tried to, since his voice wasn't working quite properly yet. He tilted his head to see his chest, and sure enough, the Mark II arc reactor was in its place and working perfectly. He made to sit up, but she placed a hand on his chest to keep him down.

"No you don't! Do you realize how worried I've been? I thought you'd be dead for sure!" she shouted, more furious than he remembered ever seeing her, her cheeks red and her eyes fierce. "Don't you give me that 'See, it was no big deal, I'm fine now' bullshit! You're not fine! You almost died, again! I've had enough."

For once, Tony couldn't come up with anything smart to answer her with. He was bone-weary and still sore all over, but the truth was that he did feel fine, compared to what he'd felt earlier. Nevertheless, he found himself just gaping stupidly at her, as she went on.

"Colonel Rhodes is upstairs with a first aid team, I'm going to get them here. You stay where you are. You dare get up and you'll be in so much trouble, Mr. Stark!" she declared, got up and walked away, the sharp clicking of her heels against the floor piercing his achy head like nails.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Pepper marched up the stairs, still trying to figure out what she felt. She was furious, that was for sure. She couldn't stand it how Tony could take these things so calmly and jokingly, pretending that nothing had really happened. If he kept this up, kept putting himself at risk - and she knew he intended to - he would drive her crazy with worry. If he'd just admit that he was a bit frightened himself, that he understood how she felt, but of course he didn't, it didn't fit in with the macho image he had to keep up.

She was disappointed in herself that she couldn't stay angry for very long, but she had been so worried, and he had survived, and she was relieved and happy about that. She wasn't going to let him know that, though. Not yet, while she was still this angry.

She reached the top of the stairs and found Rhodes sitting on the sofa with two other uniform-clad people, a very young-looking blond man and a woman of about her age, a tall, handsome brunette. They both wore insignia that made it clear they were some sort of medics.

Rhodes stood up as soon as he saw Pepper. "What's up?"

"Tony almost got himself killed again, that's what's up," she replied, her voice wavering between the anger and the relief she felt. "I want you," she cast a glance at the medics, not bothering to ask their names "to take a look and tell me he's going to stay alive for now - and knock him unconscious and drag him to the hospital, if necessary."

"All right, that's what we're here for," the brunette answered, and they stood up as well, gathering their medical supplies.

She lead them downstairs and let them in to the shop, ignoring the fact that Tony might've wanted to keep all the Iron Man -material secret. She was surprised to see that he was still lying on the floor, right where she'd left him. Maybe she should always get this mad at him when he was being impossible, since it seemed to work. But maybe he was simply too sick and tired to move.

Pepper stayed back as the medics stepped closer to Tony, wasting no time and going straight to work. Before they did anything, however, they stopped to stare at the glowing arc reactor.

"What on Earth is that thing?" the brunette asked.

"For you, anything you want it to be," Tony answered.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "It's none of your concern," she added.

"If someone asks, you never saw it," Rhodes clarified, in his most military tone.

"As long as it's not medically relevant..." the medic-woman sounded wary, but didn't push the subject. Pepper almost felt like laughing at that line. She'd hardly call something that was essential for Tony's survival 'not medically relevant', but since it was working now, it really wasn't relevant to the medics.

At the orders of the woman, the young guy started cleaning the visible injuries, which actually meant just a few cuts on Tony's head. She went on to interrogate Tony, asking about his injuries. Pepper listened with her arms crossed, learning that he'd both sprained his side and hit his head pretty nastily.

The brunette spent a while examining the back of his head and asking questions related to it, like whether he'd been unconscious and how bad his headache was. Then she went on to check his side. As she lifted Tony's shirt to get a better look, and then, apparently still intrigued by the arc reactor, ran her fingers over it, Pepper suddenly got the urge to yell at her to keep her hands to herself. She didn't feel jealous as much as possessive: aside from Tony himself, she was the only one who knew how to handle the reactor, and somehow she didn't like the idea of someone else putting their fingers on what she'd come to consider her territory.

And once again, Pepper stopped to take a breath and shake her head at the strange paths her thoughts were following today.

"Nothing broken here, I can say that with almost perfect certainty. I've seen lots of broken ribs, these aren't as painful as those, and they feel intact, so I'm convinced it just bruising. It should heal with time. I definitely recommend getting it X-rayed just to be sure, but it's not an immediate concern," the brunette assessed, sounding very professional and convincing.

"My biggest concern is, it's quite likely you've got a concussion. I could stay around to keep an eye on you..."

"Thank you, but we couldn't ask you to stay here all night. Maybe I could do it?" Pepper offered instantly.

"Miss Potts, you don't need to..." Tony started, but she cast him her iciest glance and he stopped.

"That's fine too," the medic answered. "Just see to it that he gets plenty of rest, and keep checking for any changes in his level of consciousness. If there's any change in it, or disorientation, worsening headache or nausea, get medical attention."

"Yes, I'll see to that," Pepper nodded sternly.

The younger medic had already finished his work on the cuts, and stepped back, as the older medic stood up. Tony followed them, first sitting up, then standing, with one hand on the table for support.

"I'd say our work here is done for tonight," the brunette declared. "As I said earlier, you should get a more detailed checkup tomorrow, but now, the thing you need most is rest," she told Tony. "All in all, I think you look worse than you are."

"Gee, thanks," Tony pouted.

"That's just my medical opinion, dear," she winked.

"I'll give them a lift," Rhodes spoke up. Pepper had pretty much forgotten he'd even been in the room. "Good night, and take care, you two. See you tomorrow."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Rhodey walked out of the room with the gorgeous brunette doc and her young sidekick, leaving just the two of them. Pepper was staring at him with narrowed eyes, looking almost as angry as earlier. The day had definitely been very difficult and stressful to her, too. He'd never seen her like this before.

"You, you, you..." she uttered, pointing a finger at him, livid. "After all the worry you put me through, and that annoyingly carefree attitude, and... And now I'm supposed to believe that you're okay, just like that? This is just wrong!" she rambled.

"What?" Tony said incredulously, trying to understand what she was getting at. "You're mad at me for not being badly injured?"

"No, of course I'm not! But I just thought you'd... I can't stand it when you just joke about it when something bad happens, it's like you don't care about it at all, like you don't care if you live or die and like you don't care about how I feel about it, because I do care, and..."

"Pepper, you're not making any sense," he put his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "And you're damn cute when you're this angry."

"Don't you dare... You just... I can't... Oh, you're just completely impossible!" she exclaimed, and then, all of a sudden, she pressed herself closer to him, and kissed him on the lips, just a light, quick peck, and then she pulled back, blushing and looking horrified.

For the second time during the evening, Tony Stark was totally at a loss for words. Of course, he couldn't let her notice that he was just staring at her open-mouthed, so, before she could gather her wits, he put his arm around her back and returned her kiss, with interest.

FIN


End file.
